[Bug-gne]GNE 's Not Nupedia

[Christopher Mahan]

I went to Nupedia, poked around...

I went to the copy editor section, since this is my specialty, being a 
nitpick about style. They have all sorts of requirements, silly at best, 
such as buying the Chicago writing style manual and a copy of some 
dictionary, which they would refund after three successfull edited articles.

Now, why would they want an editor who is not already proficient in grammar, 
vocabulary, and style? And what is the editor going to do when, in the 
middle of editing an article on a cutting-edge subject like human-cloning or 
clustering Linux servers, he comes across a word that's not in that 
oh-so-outdated dictionary? Will he second-guess the author, thinking that he 
will "correct" a mistake? I think not.

Likewise on the posting of articles, I strongly disagree with the stringent 
review and "peer" approval process. I am in the residential sub-prime 
lending analysis and reporting business. If I write an article on designing 
expert systems that self-adjusts trend criteria and performs rate-shock 
forecasts, then I am not likely to find a single Nupedia "peer" who will 
have a clue about what I am talking about. But there are bankers out there 
who would find this information extremely valuable.

Which brings me to another point. They would offer a "refund" for the 
editing references? Where would they get the money? Would they sell the 
information in the future? In that case, I would not relinquish copyright, 
and only grant Nupedia a non-exclusive limited copyright that would include 
a clause that I would receive at least half of the net profit derived from 
the sale of my article (I'd see my attorney on that). And is that in the 
spirit of the Free Encyclopedia? I think not.

I suppose that Nupedia will turn into a business, and that it will stiff its 
writers on potential earnings, and then commit the crime of all crimes in 
any business: not paying its suppliers.

This would only mean that in the long run, people with very good articles 
would not post them there, but rather sell them to Brittanica, so the 
ultimate "Authority" on any subject (the best, better researched and better 
expressed articles) would not be found in Nupedia.

I am not against Nupedia per se, but they've got to realize that writers of 
encyclopedia-grade articles are not mom-and-pop type of customers at 
amazon.com and they don't need to have their hands held and they certainly 
shouldn't feel patronized.

In fact, Nupedia should feel honored that some of the world's greatest minds 
would choose this medium to share their knowlegde, and should treat the 
authors, editors, translators and other contributors of such works in high 
esteem.

My two cents.




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